Recycled Paper Accounts for Two-Thirds of Office Depot's 2004 U.S. Paper Sales

Source: GreenBiz.com

DELRAY BEACH, Fla., July 12, 2005 - Office Depot has announced that 65% of its 2004 U.S. paper sales came from recycled paper -- a 373% increase from 2003.

Office Depot, who last year became the first company in the office products industry to set annual quantified environmental performance objectives, also reported that the average annual post-consumer waste (PCW) recycled content of all paper it sold in the United States last year climbed by nearly 125%.

During 2004, 65.3% of Office Depot's total U.S. retail, contract business, and commercial paper sales contained PCW recycled content -- up from 13.8% in 2003. In addition, the overall average PCW recycled content (total weight of recycled fiber as a percent of total paper weight) of paper sold across all U.S. channels reached 10.5% -- up from 4.5% in 2003.

"We are thrilled to report that nearly two of every three sheets of paper sold in the United States by Office Depot last year contained recycled content," said Tyler Elm, director of environmental affairs for Office Depot. "With paper being the most ubiquitous single office product, [this] sales effect [is] ... a testament to the growing public and corporate adoption of our quality recycled paper."

Birds, plants thrive on UK organic farms - study

04 August 2005

LONDON: Birds, bats and wild plants are thriving on Britain's organic farms, a study by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) says.


On organic farms, there are 109 per cent more wild plants and 85 per cent more plant species than on non-organic farms.

Organic farms support 32 per cent more birds and 35 per cent more bats than non-organic farms, the BTO, a charity carrying out independent research on birds, said.

There are also 5 per cent more bird species on organic farms, according to the study which was funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Smaller fields and thicker hedges on organic farms and the fact that these farms don't use agrochemicals are all contributory factors, the study found.

"Organic farms clearly have positive biodiversity effects for wild flowers. However if they are to provide benefits on the same scale for species that need more space, like birds, we either need the farms to be larger or for neighbouring farms to be organic too," Dr Rob Fuller, director of Habitat Research for the BTO said.

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